Besides documenting the places I’ve been to and the things I’ve eaten in Cambodia, I’ve also been taking photos of all the cats that I’ve tried to make friends with. The thing about the cats here, however, is that they are not the happy, playful, sometimes disdainful kitty cats you see gracing the likes of I Can Has Cheezburger or Cute Overload.

Nope. These are fierce, fearful, feral felines that may or may not bite your nose off if you get too close to them and if they get the chance. Mind you, I don’t think they’re bad kitties. I just have a feeling that they, like many of the children I’ve come across here, don’t know what it’s like to be cuddled, much less loved. Thinking of pulling an Angelina Jolie and adopting these cats and several children.

Here is a cat looking wistfully at the rain, dreaming of things only kitty cats dream about:

Here is a tiny cat waiting for his mom:

Here is a tailless cat chilling at the Equinox bar, hoping that someone will pet him and that the drunkards will not step on him destroying what’s left of his stub of a tail:

And here is a cat that kept jumping into my lap even after I repeatedly put it back down on the floor. Here’s the cat giving me his “I may or may not eat your nose” look:

It is now less than a month before my first set of law school finals, and a mild panic has set in. If you’ve ever been at the top of a roller coaster drop or have waited on the side of a stage for your cue, you probably know the feeling: that in between-ness, a rubber-band ball that fills your gut and your ribcage, that tugs and pulls you between calm and thoughts of impending doom.

This is also a close approximation of what it may feel like:

Now take that feeling, and stretch it out over one month, and you’ll get a better idea of what the weeks before finals are like for first-year law students. Well, this one at least.

About The Chronicles of a Blawgirl

This blawg follows Julie Anne Ines as she continues her law school journey as a 3L in Fall 2011. Learn more about her here. Find/stalk her online profiles using the social toolbar at the bottom of your browser. Email her at ja_ines (at) msn (dot) com. Thank you for reading!